Globalance and Helvetische Bank: Both received their banking licenses in 2011. How have they developed since then? An analysis based on the numbers.
The family of banks that populate Zurich’s financial center is: Globalance and at the Helvetic Bank about the two teenagers: After the financial crisis from 2007 to 2009, these were the first two new Swiss private banks to be founded in Zurich.
Both foundations were relatively prominent in terms of personnel. The driving force at Globalance was the CEO Ringger Challengewho founded the sustainable asset manager SAM in 1995, which he sold to Robeco in 2008. The business lawyer serves as president Felix R. Ehratwho had previously served on the boards of directors of Julius Baer and Banca del Gottardo (today: EFG).
And Helvetische Bank is following the initiative of the Chairman of the Board of Directors Thomas Matter back, SVP National Councilor and former Swissfirst boss, as well Daniel Heftiwho has led the company as CEO since its inception.
Was there from the beginning too Marcel Rohnerthe former UBS CEO and current President of the Bankers Association, who is a member of the board of directors and holds five percent of the shares through his Löwenfeld holdings.
How have the two newcomer institutes fared since then?
To find out, has finews.ch the 2023 annual reports of the two companies (each at group level) were analyzed. In the case of Helvetische Bank, these are on the website published; Globalance presented its annual financial statements at the request of finews available.
- Assets under management: As of December 31, Globalance managed 1.974 billion francs, Helvetische Bank 2.484 billion francs.
- Equity capital: Globalance’s equity amounted to 47.1 million francs and was increased through several capital increases. At Helvetische Bank it is 67.8 million, but without any capital increases since it was founded. The CET-1 ratio at Helvetische Bank was 26.7 percent; at Globalance it is not shown separately.
- Total assets: At the end of 2023, the total assets and liabilities at Globalance amounted to 78.7 million francs; at Helvetische Bank it was a good ten times larger at 803.9 million francs.
- Profitability: Globalance achieved business success of 1.1 million francs last year. At Helvetische Bank it was 20.2 million francs. After extraordinary income and taxes, Globalance had an annual result of 891,781 francs, Helvetische Bank earned 15.3 million.
- Sources of income: The income of the two banks was broken down into interest business, commission and service business as well as trading business as follows:
Globalance
Helvetic Bank
Interest business 655,481 16,133,397
Commission and service business 6,879,808 12,226,866
Trading business 5,289,334 3,896,835
Other ordinary success 3,190,079 -528,862
Total business success
16’014’702
31’728’236
- Workforce: At the end of the last financial year, Globalance had 38.8 full-time positions, which resulted in personnel expenses of 7.6 million francs. At Helvetische Bank, personnel costs amounted to 8.7 million francs for 35.1 full-time positions.
- Loss carryforwards: Globalance reported a loss carryforward of 26.4 million francs at the end of 2023. The last time a loss was carried forward at Helvetische Bank was in 2016.
Overall, Globalance and Helvetische Bank are similar in terms of assets under management and headcount. In all other dimensions they diverge considerably.
Different business models
This also has to do with the different business models. Globalance positions itself almost exclusively as an asset manager for clients looking for sustainable investment opportunities. Against this background, it is astonishing that almost a third of the income comes from trading. Essentially, these are probably foreign currency commissions.
Development of assets and profits. (Source: Globalance, Helvetische Bank. Illustration: finews.ch)
Meanwhile, Helvetische Bank, which is also reflected in its significantly larger balance sheet total, is a relatively active bank that offers its target audience of entrepreneurs and wealthy private individuals a comprehensive range of services, including in corporate banking.
